The actor is in talks to head the cast of the screen adaptation of Lucy Kirkwood’s play.

Alessandro Nivola
Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Stage and screen actor Alessandro Nivola is in talks to star in a TV adaptation of Lucy Kirkwood’s West End play Chimerica, according to Deadline. Nivola is a Tony nominee for his turn in The Elephant Man in 2014, and has been seen on screen in the films Selma, A Most Violent Year, and Weightless, among others.

As previously reported, Chimerica is being adapted into a four-part TV series for Britain’s Channel 4. The series is now titled Foreign Skies.

Winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Play as well as the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Chimerica tells the story of an American photojournalist who witnessed the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, and who, 23 years later, sets out to find the subject of his most famous photograph.

Benedict Wong, who starred in the stage production, was previously in talks to reprise the starring role.

The TV series, adapted by British producer Colin Callender, will reportedly delve more deeply into the current issue of fake news. Playwright Kirkwood is also attached as an executive producer.

Chimerica received its world premiere at London's Almeida Theatre in 2013 and transferred to the West End's Harold Pinter Theatre that same year.

Kirwood's play The Children recently concluded its Broadway run. Set in a small cottage on the coast of England, the play sees three former nuclear engineers reunite to contemplate their part in an environmental tragedy. Watch highlights below: